Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, interfaith activist who raised millions in Christian donations for Israel, dies at 67

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein arriving in Israel with the first group of immigrants brought by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Dec. 22, 2014. (International Fellowship of Christians and Jews)
February 7, 2019 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — To the many colleagues and supporters of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who died Wednesday at the age of 67, he was a man of vision whose enormous drive to succeed both facilitated and complicated his relentless efforts on behalf of the Jewish people. As head of the International Fellowship… Read more »

Swastikas sprayed inside and outside of an Atlanta-area high school
February 7, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

(JTA) — Swastikas were spray-painted on the inside and outside of a suburban Atlanta public high school. The blue swastikas were painted on the outside of the Centennial High in Roswell, Georgia, the Atlanta Jewish Times and other local publications reported. School employees discovered the vandalism when they arrived… Read more »

Upstate New York yeshiva set on fire and painted with swastikas
February 7, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

(JTA) — A yeshiva in upstate New York was set on fire and swastikas were spray painted on the building. The incident at the Yeshiva Deah Yoreh, located on a former farm in White Sulphur Springs, occurred on Jan. 28 but was first reported by the Rockland/Westchester Journal News… Read more »

5 Jewish things to know about Amy Klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar speaks at the 2018 DGA Honors Show in New York City, Oct. 18, 2018. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images for DGA)
February 7, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The race for the Democratic presidential nomination is starting to look like a CNN panel — more people fit than you think possible. Up next is Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. She’s committed to bipartisanship, close to Republicans like her late Senate colleague John McCain from Arizona… Read more »

JFSA seeks applications for summer camp scholarships
February 5, 2019 /

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is accepting applications for scholarships to Jewish overnight summer camps for the summer of 2019. The need-based scholarship is funded by the Mo and Frances Beren Family Scholarship Fund and the Loebl Family Scholarship Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona.… Read more »

Leading Democrats launch group to counter Israel disenchantment on the left
January 30, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Prominent Democrats are launching a pro-Israel group to counter a drift away from Israel on the party’s left. The Democratic Majority for Israel will be led by Mark Mellman, a longtime Democratic Party pollster who has been active in the pro-Israel community. “Our mission at Democratic… Read more »

Palestinian Authority prime minister resigns
January 30, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

This is a developing story. JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah submitted his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas. The rest of the government also resigned on Tuesday, according to reports. Abbas will have to decide whether to accept any or all of the resignations. The resignations… Read more »

Black Jewish actor Jussie Smollett violently assaulted in Chicago
January 30, 2019 / Emily Burack, JTA

(JTA) — Black Jewish actor Jussie Smollett, best known for his work on the show “Empire,” was hospitalized in Chicago on Tuesday following an assault that is being described by police as a possible hate crime. Smollett was exiting a restaurant when two men approached him. The Chicago Police… Read more »

As cold weather batters populations worldwide, JDC calls for support of winter aid efforts

Nadezhda B. shovels coal provided to her by the JDC and the JDC-supported Hesed Social Welfare Center outside Odessa, Ukraine, despite cold temperatures. (JDC)
January 29, 2019 /

(New York, NY) As extreme weather is sweeping across the United States and Europe, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is urging the public to support local and global winter aid efforts aiding poor populations. JDC has provided winter aid this year to more than 9,500 poor Jews, including… Read more »

Bilgray scholar will speak on language, names
January 25, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor
Sarah Bunin Benor

Editor’s note: This article has been updated Jan. 25 to show that all lectures will be held at Temple Emanu-El. Temple Emanu-El’s 35th annual Bilgray Lectureship will center on language and names, with Sarah Bunin Benor, Ph.D., as the scholar in residence. The free series features three lectures, Feb.… Read more »

Tucson J to co-sponsor ‘What Is Latin Style?’
January 25, 2019 /
George Hanson

The Tucson Jewish Community Center, in partnership with Tucson Desert Song Festival, will present a panel discussion, “What Is Latin Style?” on Monday, Jan. 28, 7-8:30 p.m. Desert Song Festival Director George Hanson will lead a discussion with guests including Tucson Symphony Orchestra  Music Director Jose Luis Gomez, local… Read more »

Ilhan Omar endorses the Israel boycott and is on the influential Foreign Affairs Committee. Here’s what she and her colleagues say.

Rep. Ilhan Omar listens during a news conference on prescription drugs at the Capitol, Jan. 10, 2019. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
January 24, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The top two Jewish members of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee revile BDS, the boycott Israel movement. Its newest member, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has embraced the movement. It’s not a big deal, the Jewish Democrats say. Reps. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the committee… Read more »

Insisting it is not anti-Semitic, NJ group sees haredi Orthodox as a threat to ‘quality of life’

An Orthodox woman pushes a stroller in Lakewood, N.J., in 2013. The population in the largely haredi Orthodox town has boomed in the past couple of decades, and haredi families are looking to move to neighboring towns. (Dennis Fraevich/Flickr)
January 24, 2019 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — The video, with suspenseful music playing in the background, opens with footage of a crowd of Orthodox Jews. Then it paraphrases a classic poem about the Holocaust. “First they came for my house, but I did not speak up,” the narrator says. “I said I am not… Read more »

Right-wing killings eclipsed all other extremist-related murders in 2018. The numbers don’t lie.

Protesters and counterprotesters clash during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Aug. 12, 2017. (Calla Kessler/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
January 24, 2019 / Jonathan A. Greenblatt, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Every year, extremism takes a deadly toll around the world. No region is immune — not the Middle East, not Europe, and not the United States. In 2018, there were at least 50 Americans killed by extremists from different movements. Many of the victims were Jews. Eleven… Read more »

The deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire inspires a contemporary composer

The composer Julia Wolfe, shown in 2011, dedicates her new work "Fire in My Mouth" to "women who rose up to demand a more human existence." (Hiroyuki Ito/Getty Images)
January 24, 2019 / Curt Schleier, JTA

(JTA) — Was it coincidence or fate that the New York Philharmonic commissioned Julia Wolfe to compose a new piece about the deadly fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory? For years she has passed the site on New York’s Greene Street and Washington Place where 146 young women, all Eastern… Read more »

How a Jewish brother and sister are making political history

Rabbi Yehiel Kalish attending the swearing-in of Dafna Michaelson Jenet, his sister, at the Colorado House of Representatives in Denver, Jan. 11, 2017. (Courtesy of Michaelson Jenet)
January 24, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — Only days after being sworn into the Illinois House of Representatives on Sunday, Rabbi Yehiel Kalish paid a visit to Israel. The father of six said he needed guidance from rabbis in the Jewish state to serve in his new role. “The immediate reaction of the Chicago political… Read more »

German Jewish leader gets threats after criticizing far-right party
January 24, 2019 / Toby Axelrod, JTA

(JTA) — A German Jewish leader has been receiving verbal threats since she criticized Germany’s strongest right-populist party in a Holocaust Remembrance Day address. “Since then, almost every minute, I have received wild insults, threats and insults by email and telephone,” Charlotte Knobloch, 86, head of the Jewish community… Read more »